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English Doctor Edward Jenner begins creating a vaccine against smallpox. The term vaccine is coined for describing immunization, originating from the latin word “vacca” (cow).

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Vaccinations against smallpox become compulsory. The Vaccination Act of 1853 ordered a mandatory vaccination for infants up to 3 months.  Anti-Vaccinators form resistance against vaccines citing it was an infringement on their freedom.

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The prominent anti-vaxx British activist William Tebb traveled to America to campaign against vaccines. He would soon greatly influence America and vaccines there. In the same year the Anti-Vaccination Society of America was founded.

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New England Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League formed

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New England Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League formed

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Anti-vaccination League of New York is formed

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Tens of thousands of people march through the city of Leicester, England holding child sized coffins and an effigy of Edward Jenner.

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The Vaccination Act of 1898 removed penalties and included a clause that insured parents who did not believe in vaccination's safety or efficacy could obtain an exemption certificate.

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The Supreme Court rules that “individual states would decide which mandatory vaccination laws and exemption regulations to pass". In this decision the court also granted "individual state governments the authority to enact laws that were necessary to protect public health and safety.” In addition, the law required all to receive a smallpox vaccination and if not, they were charged $5.

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The Cutter Incident. A fear of polio rises in the post-war era and vaccine production increases. However, a case occurs where Cutter Laboratories produced vaccines that accidentally contained traces of the active virus soon leading to 40,000 cases of polio. The incident leads to a dip in distrust from the public and closing of vaccination laboratories.

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Andrew Wakefield publishes a study claiming vaccinations lead to autism in the British Medical journal “The Lancet". Wakerfield writes that “the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, given to children around the age of 18 months and again at four years, could lead to autism”. While Wakefield is now a discredited physician and the study is now flawed and reverted, it greatly altered the conversations and to this day, anti-vaxxers still believe in this narrative.

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HPV vaccination program is launched. The HPV vaccination protects against the sexually transmitted disease that causes types of cervical cancers. It is primarily given to teenage girls.

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HPV vaccine is re-framed as promiscuity promotion by anti-vaxxers. While the claims have been debunked, that the vaccine encourages sexual promiscuity, vaccinations rates for HPV plummeted in Columbia, Japan, Ireland, and Denmark. HPV rates still remain under 5% for Japan and Columbia.

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CIA's hunt for Osama bin Laden fuels vaccine hesitancy in Pakistan. In order to capture Osama bin Laden, the CIA created a fake vaccination drive in Pakistan. The drive distributed hepatitis B vaccinations in order to obtain DNA information. By administrating fake vaccinations to babies, the CIA could attempt to find a child related to bin Laden. However, these efforts led to a large distrust in the government and anti-vaccine campaigns by Islamic extremist parties. There was a 23% decline in DTP vaccination rates and 28% decrease for polio vaccines.

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photo credits: world meteorological organization  

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COVID-19 pandemic begins with the first global lockdown forever changing the political landscape and life of everyone.

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The power and influence of social media in the anti-vaccination movement and spreading of information is present within the COVID-19 pandemic. While the time periods have changed and grown into different diseases, the reasons, whether religious or political, for anti-vaccination groups have remained fairly the same since Edward Jenner.